Mary Crispin

ENGL 1711-03

June 23, 2021

Virtual vs. Real Classrooms

When I started thinking to write about compare and contrast, my current mode of taking classes came to my mind and reinforced me to write on comparing virtual vs real classrooms. The option of choosing between real vs. virtual classrooms is one of the main sources of debate among academic scholars. To answer the question which one is better depends on several factors.

Real class education has the advantage of higher attendance. Some teachers make attendance a mandatory requirement to get a good grade and pass. This in turn pushes many students to attend classes regularly. When students attend classes on a regular basis, the expectation is that they can be in a better learning condition through the live interaction with their teacher. This is not the case when it comes to virtual learning classes method. The other advantage of an in-class participation over virtual class is that students get the exposure of peer interaction. in the real world of teaching and learning process, students do not only learn directly from teachers alone but also, they can learn from one another through horizontal interaction. For example, they can learn from one another by doing group term paper and presentation assignments together. Furthermore, they can also learn from each other by doing an in-class group works. All these in real class interactions make the learning process somewhat easy and convenient to grasp the necessary knowledge and enhance students’ skill which is almost impossible when compared with virtual classes. By the way, I prefer this style. Had it not been for the expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic expansion that halted the in-class participation, I would have attended an in person real classes to improve my English grammar and accent by interacting with other follow students.

Moreover, real class learning has an instant clarification advantage compared to virtual classroom learning. For example, if students have anything that is not clear, or vague concept or if got confused in the steps of teaching, they have the possibility of stopping their teacher and ask live to make it clear and clean any ambiguous ideas which in effect make the learning process more efficient. More strictly speaking on this side of the argument at hand, learning in a real class has the benefit of promoting a collaborative learning-teaching approach to further enhance the critical thinking skills students on one hand and enables to improve social life skills on the other. It might be impossible to maximize these kinds of opportunities in a virtual class.

On the other hand, virtual classroom has its own advantage in contrast to real classrooms. Students in in virtual classrooms are not, for example, expected to regularly attend classes. It is also true that learners in virtual classrooms have a better control over their own time in contrast to the traditional in person classes. This is to say, students have the capacity to pick and manage the time and date of their own classes which is not possible in the case of real classes. Similarly, in virtual classrooms students can attend any class from anywhere which is not the case of in traditional real classrooms. To substantiate this fact, for instance, since inception of COVID-19 that halted an in-class participation, I have been attending virtual classes from the mighty beautiful parks around west Saint Paul and dipper style smooth kids’ playgrounds around Mendota Heights while my little kiddos are enjoy playing.

Virtual classrooms have a commute benefit in contrast to real classrooms. To illustrate this argument a little more, if students, for instance, do not have either drivers’ license or car, it may mean nothing since they can attend the classes virtually. For that matter, it is also a typical way of saving money to put in a bank account for a rainy day.

In summary, even if it is contestable to choose from real classrooms vs. virtual classrooms, if put into comparison, which is better, both have their merits and demerits on which anyone can depend to select as a convenient model of learning.